


Prelude (in C Major)

by PyrophobicDragon



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Catherine AU, M/M, side Alyuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21998074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyrophobicDragon/pseuds/PyrophobicDragon
Summary: The day after the start of the rest of his life, Curran enters the Stray Sheep.A Catherine: Full Body AU.
Relationships: Curran/Heinwald (Dragalia Lost)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Prelude (in C Major)

**Author's Note:**

> Serious spoilers for Catherine: Full Body, specifically, Rin's route. Like, seriously. This is basically a recap of the route, but Curranwald.

"Welcome to the Stray Sheep...oh, Curran. Hello."

"Hey." As soon as his name left Yurius' lips, the gentle piano music stuttered for half a note. Curran stopped and smiled over at the piano, but Heinwald didn't look at him. There was a small smile and a blush gracing  _ his  _ face, however.

Making his way over to his usual table, he greeted his pals with a casual wave: Ranzal was stuffing his face with fried food, eyes glued to the TV, Orion was on his phone, probably messaging people on Tinder or Grindr or whatever; Albert was the only one who waved back.

En route, he was intercepted by Yurius. The waiter frowned at him. "I assume, given his presence here, that you apologized?"

Curran knew exactly what he was talking about. And he nodded. "I did. Profusely. And we talked about it."

Yurius searched his face for a second. Then he gave a sharp nod. "Good."

The man turned away, presumably to resume wiping down tables, but Curran stopped him with a hand on his elbow. “Hey, man.” Yurius turned his head, and Curran offered him a small smile. “Thanks for looking out for him. I won’t forget that.”

“Hmm. See that you don’t.” But when he turned away for the second time, Curran caught a glimpse of his smile.

When he said he won’t forget it, he meant it. And though he wanted to just blurt out,  _ Albert has a thing for you _ , he knew that, after how long those two friends had been dancing around each other, those two idiots would need a...more delicate touch, if his gratitude would be properly conveyed.

As much as he wanted to approach Heinwald, lean down and press a kiss to his lips, disrupt his music, Heinwald was smack-dab in the middle of a beautiful song, that rose and fell like flowing water. And his friends were waiting for him. So, instead of indulging in the new, fluttering feeling in his chest, he headed on over to their table. 

He slid into the booth besides Albert and opened up with a blunt, "I called off the engagement."

Orion nearly dropped his phone. Ranzal raised a brow, sucking the last of the meat off his chicken wing. Albert only looked at him out of the corner of his eye. 

Goddess. Both he and Julietta knew what a stupid idea this whole thing was, but they decided to give it a go anyways. Julietta was--well, she never really gave it a label, or at least not given him a label, but she certainly wasn’t interested in men. And Curran was uninterested in anyone. But they were both church kids, with parents who were starting to hint heavily at a desire for in-laws and a mother for Curran’s adoptive daughter, and they were good friends, and so several years ago they decided to...start something. A platonic relationship. Where they attended various family functions as each other’s plus-one, laughed awkwardly at the  _ when are you getting married _ questions, and ended up getting...kinda engaged. Marriage-pacted. 

And Curran had thought it was fine. It was a pretty good arrangement. He was never going to be interested in anything other than the Goddess and finding the truth. Julietta was a fine friend, and he was helping her out by pretending to be her boyfriend.

But then he had met Heinwald. 

Ran into him, literally, on the streets; he was fleeing from a stalker. No memory except for his name, no possessions except for the nightgown he was wearing; Curran had done the charitable thing. He had a good relationship with his landlord, Ryozen so he got Heinwald an apartment next door, got him a job as a piano player at the Stray Sheep, and tasked Yurius with making sure Heinwald got home okay every night.

He’s not really sure how it happened, but somehow, between Heinwald’s unique mix of stone-cold intelligence and social obliviousness, between chatting to him at the Stray Sheep and having him babysit Lathna, between hearing his beautiful piano music permeate his nightmares and seeing his beautiful, lopsided smile during the day, he had fallen in love.

One minor problem, though? He had assumed, based on Heinwald’s long hair and the loose nightgown he was wearing, that he was a woman. And he only learned that he was a man the day before yesterday. 

In what had not been one of his finer moments, he had...freaked out. A little bit. He had sent Heinwald running away from him and his daughter in tears, while little Lathna cried and begged him to stay.

Yeah, he had fucked  _ that _ one up. And Yurius had let him know it, the next time he visited the Stray Sheep--with a punch to the face.

The man had a  _ mean _ right hook. 

The punch wasn’t even necessary! He had every intention to go to Heinwald’s apartment and apologize. Turned it out wasn’t as easy as that, though...he had to go through  _ so. much. bullshit.  _ in order to find Heinwald and apologize. Akasha, Mr. Aster, and then it turned out Heinwald had a “Sissy” who tried to--

Well, never fucking mind all that. What mattered was that he finally rescued Heinwald, apologized, and told him he loved him. When he leaned in for the kiss, Heinwald avoided him and said, “But...aren’t you engaged?”

Goddess  _ dammit. _

He had visited Julietta yesterday. He had told her he had finally fallen in love, and that he wouldn’t be able to go through with the marriage pact. She had laughed, smiled a relieved smile, and asked, “Is it the girl from the bar?”

“He’s a guy, actually, but yes.”

Julietta looked surprised for a brief second, but then she smiled again. “That explains a lot.”

“The fuck’s that supposed to mean,” Curran said flatly. She only laughed again and said,

“Nothing. Well, it’s a good excuse for me not to get married for at least another couple of years. But…” her smile faded a little. “How about you? Will your parents be okay with it…?”

“They’d better fucking be. After all the bullshit I had to go through, I’m not letting him go for love or money. And Heinwald--” he bit his tongue. He almost said,  _ and Heinwald did stand up to his angel-alien sister to prevent her from destroying humanity _ , but that was probably a story for another day. “Er...Heinwald’s amazing. He’s worth...it. Everything.”

Julietta was silent for a little bit. Curran blushed, realizing how stupid he sounded. But after a while, she said, “Oh, wow...I never thought I’d see the day you fell in love.”

Right here, in the Stray Sheep, Curran blushed again, thinking about how simply Julietta said that. Then he realized that his friends were still staring at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He sighed and said, “Heinwald and I are dating.”

“Oh, congratulations, man.” Ranzal’s face split into a big smile and he patted Curran on the shoulder. “You finally found someone to love, huh?”

Orion was craning his neck, looking over at Heinwald. “A rescue romance...I told you two that it would happen!”

“How does Julietta feel about this?” Albert asked quietly. “Her parents are the ones pushing her towards marriage, yes?”

Curran shrugged. “We cooked up a story about how she’s super traumatized about her fiance--me--suddenly leaving her for a man, and that should keep them off her tail for the next five years or so.”

The table fell silent.

Oh, right. 

“Um...by the way, Heinwald’s a guy.”

“What?”

“WHAT.”

“Oh. I see.”

Curran nodded. “Yep. He’s a dude, and I love him to pieces.”

By this time in the conversation, the familiar piano music was coming to an end. Orion leaned back in his bench to raise a brow at him. “Well, if you love h-er, him, so much, why are you over here talking to us bozos?”

“Yeah!” Ranzal jumped on it with a grin. “Go chat him up a little!” Then he muttered, for Curran’s ears only, “And get out of that seat so we can get Yurius and Albert to ‘chat up a little’…”

“What did you just say?” Albert asked Ranzal, who just shrugged at him. Albert sighed. “Well…I do believe he has been waiting for you.”

Curran couldn’t help but smile at his friends’ complete and utter acceptance. And...at the fact that they were all still here, with him, sitting around this sticky table. “Yeah. Shouldn’t keep my man waiting.” He stared directly into Albert’s eyes for a couple of seconds, who only blinked at him, confused. With a chuckle, he got out of his seat and sauntered over to the piano.

Heinwald let the last few notes linger in the air for a second, but even so, his body turned towards Curran, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Then he set his hands in his lap and turned fully to face Curran, smiling up at him. “Hello.”

He was no longer wearing the pink nightgown-esque dress he had been wearing the past few days. Instead, he was dressed in what looked like black jeans, a white button-up shirt, and a soft, dark purple sweater that made him look warm and cozy. Curran could feel his lips involuntarily curving up into a smile. “Hey.”

Heinwald laughed. “Hello.”

“You look good today,” Curran blurted out.

“I’m happy today,” Heinwald replied. A light pink blush, the same color as his old dress, rose to his cheeks.

“Yeah? Good.” Licking his lips, Curran then asked, “Can I…?”   


“Of course,” Heinwald replied easily.

He tilted his face up, and Curran leaned down for the kiss.

It wasn’t their first kiss, and by the Goddess, it wouldn’t be their last.

**Author's Note:**

> Random headcanon: Heinwald is a musical savant; his "marquee" instrument is the organ.
> 
> A gift for Carmenval, who wanted to see this AU fic-ified. I actually really enjoy this AU, and I really, really want to write a full retell of the story!


End file.
